Our common future - The Brundtland Commission Report.

The Brundtland Commission Report

1. PRESENTED BY SAVITRI KUMARI VINIT LOHARIA PRITHVI MOHAN SRILIKHITHA L.RADHIKA RUDRANI DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE, VIJAYAWADA The Brundtland Commission Report . 1 Environmental Planning & Management 3 rd year, 5 th sem

2. Gro Harlem Brundtland She was born on 20 April 1939. She is a medical doctor with a public health degree. She is former director of the World Health Organization. A feminist, she was Prime Minister of Norway  (1981, 1986–89, 1990–96), the first woman and youngest ever. She was chosen to direct the U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development. Since 2007, she is a special U.N. envoy on climate change. INTRODUCTION 2

3. The Brundtland Report (former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland), published 27 years ago. It has been successful in forming international ties between governments and multinational corporations. Described sustainability as a three-legged stool with people, planet and profit taking equal importance in the equation.  The report led the production of Agenda 21 , an action plan of the UN with regard to sustainable development Agenda 21 entailed actions to be taken globally, nationally, and locally in order to make life on Earth more sustainable OUR COMMON FUTURE 3

4. Our Common Future aimed to discuss the environment & development as one single issue The Brundtland report (Our Common Future) defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” 4

5. The Brundtland Report highlighted the three fundamental components of sustainable development , the environment , the economy , and society. Environment We should conserve and enhance our resource base, by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies. Social Equity Developing nations must be allowed to meet their basic needs of employment , food , energy , water and sanitation . If this is to be done in a sustainable manner, then there is a definite need for a sustainable level of population. Economic Growth Economic growth should be revived and developing nations should be allowed a growth of equal quality to the developed nations. 5

6. The environment – a few facts Flooding May Change the World Map If global warming continues areas less than 30 feet above sea level will be vulnerable to flooding. Those areas most at risk of flooding, due to the rising sea level would be island nations like the Maldives….and the UK! 10% of the worlds population live in areas likely to be affected by rising sea levels such as Shanghai, and Lagos and The Atlantic Gulf Coasts of the USA. Scientists project as much as a 3 foot sea level rise, by 2100. Also threatened are Holland, Belgium, Denmark, & parts of China and India. 6

7. UK Government report states: ‘a secure energy system is one that is able to meet the needs of people and organisations ……..in a reliable and affordable way both now and in the future ’ Just three countries supply the vast majority of EU gas imports—Russia (40%), Algeria (30%) and Norway (25%). The UK will need to replace around 25% of its firm capacity over the next decade if it is to continue to meet demand There is a risk that not enough gas capacity will be built in the UK as investors seek more certain returns elsewhere. Government is therefore concerned that the UK will not have enough ‘firm’ capacity over the coming decade to ensure that the UK’s electricity supplies remain secure. The environment – Energy Security 7

8. The Bruntland Reports says.. Economic growth should be revived and developing nations should be allowed a growth of equal quality to the developed nations . China’s economy is projected to grow by about 8% a year, with India averaging 7.8% annual growth and Brazil 4.9%. By contrast, North America will experience annual growth of about 3%, Europe, 2% and Japan about 1%. Some facts to consider… In recent years the world's food production has increased by 24 per cent, outpacing the rate of population growth. However , this increase was not evenly distributed throughout the world. For example, in Africa, food production decreased, while population increased. Most experts agree that there is no shortage of food, and that equitable distribution should be sufficient to meet all needs for the future. Lack of money to buy food is the problem of malnourishment . THE ECONOMY Source - Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 8

9. TIME INTERVAL NUMBER OF YEARS WORLD POPULATION ___________________________________________________________ ?-1850 to 1 Billion 1850 years + ___________________________________________________________ 1850-1930 2 Billion 80 years ___________________________________________________________ 1930-1975 4 Billion 45 years ___________________________________________________________ 1975-1987 5 Billion 12 years ___________________________________________________________ 1987-2000 6 Billion 13 years 2013 – 10:50 AM Wednesday 27 th Feb – 7.1 Billion…and rising ___________________________________________________________ * We currently are adding 90 million annually and will continue to do so through to 2015 and beyond . Source: http ://www.worldometers.info/world-population 9

10. Poverty is a condition of chronic deprivation and need at the family level. Poverty, is a major concern of humankind, because poverty everywhere reduces human beings to a low level of existence. Poor people lack access to enough land and income to meet basic needs. A lack of basic needs results in physical weakness and poor health. Poor health decreases the ability of the poor to work and put them deeper into poverty . The priorities for getting rid of poverty, improving food supply, ending malnutrition, and providing adequate housing coincide at all points with those required for balanced population growth. POVERTY 10

11. GROWTH Many of the products and technologies that have gone into this improvement are raw material- and energy-intensive and entail a substantial amount of pollution . Environmental stresses also arise from more traditional forms of production. More land has been cleared for settled cultivation in the past 100 years than in all the previous centuries of human existence. Interventions in the water cycles have increased greatly . In recent years, industrial countries have been able to achieve economic growth using less energy and raw materials per unit of output. This, along with the efforts to reduce the emission of pollutants, will help to contain the pressure on the biosphere. 11

12. SURVIVAL The scale and complexity of our requirements for natural resources have increased greatly with the rising levels of population and production. Greenhouse effect Ozon layer deletion Air pollution Deforestation Diposal of toxic waste Desertification extinguishes species of plants and animals 12

13. ELEMENTS / DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Political Economic Institutional Technological Socio-cultural Ecological 13

14. PARAMETERS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC Maintaining a sustainable population Maintaining productivity and profitability of environment and natural resources ECOLOGICAL Adopting environmental management weapons in policy and decision making Protecting the environment and conserving natural resources TECHNOLOGICAL Promoting proper management of wastes and residuals Adopting environment-friendly technologies POLITICAL Empowering the people Maintaining peace and order SOCIO-CULTURE Promoting resource access and upholding property rights Promoting environmental awareness, inculcating environment ethics and supporting environment management action INSTITUTIONAL Improving institutional capacity/ capability to manage sustainable development 14

15. Sustainable Development Business is the key actor in ECONOMY, which is mainly concerned with producing goods and services for people Government is the key actor in POLITY, which is concerned with democratic governance and security of human rights. Civil Society is the key actor in CULTURE, which is concerned with the development of the social and spiritual capacities of human beings. 15

16. “Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” or Sustainable Development means making sure that the things we do, the goods we buy and the lifestyle we have today will not harm the environment for us, for people in other places and for future generations Sustainable Development 16

17. The concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given. The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs. It contains two key concepts: 17

18. Development involves a progressive transformation of economy and society. A development path that is sustainable in a physical sense could theoretically be pursued even in a rigid social and political setting. But physical sustainability cannot be secured unless development policies pay attention to such considerations as changes in access to resources The goals of economic and social development must be defined in terms of sustainability in all countries- developed or developing Development tends to simplify ecosystems and to reduce their diversity of species. And species, once extinct, are not renewable. The loss of plant and animal species can greatly limit the options of future generations; so sustainable development requires the conservation of plant and animal species. So-called free goods like air and water are also resources. The raw materials and energy of production processes are only partly converted to useful products. The rest comes out as wastes. Sustainable development requires that the adverse impacts on the quality of air, water, and other natural elements are minimized so as to sustain the ecosystem's overall integrity. 18

19. A society may in many ways compromise its ability to meet the essential needs of its people in the future – by overexploiting resources, for example. The direction of technological developments may solve some immediate problems but lead to even greater ones. Large sections of the population may be marginalized by ill-considered development societies economies + companies + I T IS ABOUT DEVELOPING that can be sustained on social, economic and environmental terms 19

20. sustainable development is about social progress which recognises the needs of everyone

21. sustainable development is about ensuring employment and economic security for everyone

22. sustainable development is about environmental protection being at the centre of everything we do

23. sustainable development is about the prudent use of the earth’s natural resources

24. How are individuals in the real world to be persuaded or made to act in the common interest? It is not that there is one set of villains and another of victims. All would be better off if each person took into account the effect oœ " his or her acts upon others. Interdependence is not simply a local phenomenon. Rapid growth in production has extended it to the international plane The enforcement of common interest often suffers because areas of political jurisdiction and areas of impact do not coincide. The search for common interest would be less difficult if all development and environment problems had solutions that would leave everyone better off. This is seldom the case, and there are usually winners and losers. Many problems arise from inequalities in access to resources As a system approaches ecological limits, inequalities sharpen Globally, wealthier nations are better placed financially and technologically to cope with the effects of possible climatic change. our inability to promote the common interest in sustainable development is often a product of the relative neglect of economic and social justice within and amongst nations. EQUITY AND THE COMMON INTEREST 24

25. STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES Critical objectives for environment and development policies that follow from the concept of sustainable development include: · Reviving Growth ; developing nations focus their efforts upon eliminating poverty and satisfying essential human needs, then domestic demand will increase for both agricultural products and manufactured goods and some services. · Changing The Quality Of Growth ; Sustainable development involves more than growth. It requires a change in the content of growth, to make it less Material- and energy-intensive and more equitable in its impact . Meeting Essential Needs For Jobs, Food, Energy, Water, And Sanitation ; The principal development challenge is to meet the needs and aspirations of an expanding developing world population. · Ensuring A Sustainable Level Of Population ; The sustainability of development is intimately linked to the dynamics of population growth. Population policies should be integrated with other economic and social development programmes female education, health care, and the expansion of the livelihood base of the poor. · Conserving And Enhancing The Resource Base : Development policies must widen people's options for earning a sustainable livelihood, particularly for resource-poor households and in areas under ecological stress. · 25

26. 6. Reorienting Technology And Managing Risk ; limits to global development are perhaps determined by the availability of energy resources and by the biosphere's capacity to absorb the by-products of energy use. The development of environmentally appropriate technologies is closely related to questions of risk management . 7.Merging Environment And Economics In Decision Making . Inter sectoral connections create patterns of economic and ecological interdependence rarely reflected in the ways in which policy is made. Sustainability requires the enforcement of wider responsibilities for the impacts of decisions. This requires changes in the legal and institutional frameworks that will enforce the common interest. 26

27. CONCLUSION The strategy for sustainable development aims to promote harmony among Human brings and between humanity and nature. , The pursuit of sustainable development requires: · A political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision making. · An economic system that is able to generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self-reliant and Sustained basis · A social system that provides for solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development. · A production system that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological base for development, · A technological system that can search continuously for new solutions, · An international system that fosters sustainable patterns of trade and finance, and · An administrative system that is flexible and has the capacity for self-correction. 27

28. Reference: Chapter 1 and 2 - Our Common Future, Brundtland Report,UN.1987 Thank you… 28